National Anvil Shooting Contest

Even in this book, it’s going too far to call anvil shooting a sport, but Gene Mulloy, an old-time blacksmithing buff and co-founder of the World Anvil Shooting Society definitely disagrees. You see, in 1994 he organized the first anvil shooting competition in the nation, which has become an annual event at Laurel’s Wood Expo held every April. “Anvil shooting dates back to the Civil War,” he says, “when all them damn Yanks came through the South destroying all of our metal-working capabilities. They’d put powder underneath the anvils and try to blow them up. And up they went, up in the air.” Now a small group of explosion enthusiasts from Mississippi and area states gather to compete for bragging rights in the South.

The rules are simple: shooters’ anvils must be made of steel, weigh at least 100 pounds and no more than 2 pounds of black powder can be used to send that thing soaring. Two classes exist, those who shoot Traditional and those who shoot Super Modified. In the Traditional class, shooters use real, antique anvils. At the base of every anvil there is a hollow spot, where powder and a 90-second cannon fuse are packed. Then a second anvil is placed on top of the first. Once the fuse is ignited, the shooter has to haul ass to make it out of the 300-foot danger zone